Trump says will probably release second Ukraine transcript on Tuesday

"We have another transcript coming out which is very important", Mr Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews before leaving for a visit to Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

The Trump administration halt on aid to Ukraine - including a separate $250 million package of military aid from the US Department of Defence - has become a central issue in the impeachment trial of the US president, after a September whistleblower complaint alleged that Trump ordered the aid held back to force Ukraine to investigate whether the business dealings of former Vice President Joe Biden and his Hunter Biden in Ukraine involved corrupt practices.

Investigators enter a new phase next week when they begin publicly questioning witnesses after weeks of closed-door testimony.

The Ohio congressman is now the ranking Republican on the House Oversight Committee and has attended most of the closed-door impeachment hearings so far, but as a member of the Intelligence Committee he will be able to question witnesses.

As vice president, Joe Biden pressured Ukraine to fire its top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, because Biden and other Western officials said Shokin was not sufficiently pursuing corruption cases.

Democrats want to know if Trump withheld almost $400 million in military aid to Ukraine to get President Volodomyr Zelenskiy to publicly commit himself to investigating Joe Biden, a potential Trump rival in the 2020 presidential election, for corruption. Saturday marked Republicans' deadline to submit the request.

For only the fourth time in USA history, the House of Representatives has started a presidential impeachment inquiry.

The GOP also requested Nellie Ohr, a former Fusion GPS contractor, and Alexandra Chalupa, a former Democratic National Committee staffer, signaling that Republicans still want to focus on unsubstantiated claims related to the 2016 presidential campaign.

"We expect that you will call each of the witnesses listed above to ensure that the Democrats" "impeachment inquiry' treats the President with fairness, as promised by Speaker Pelosi", wrote Rep. Devin Nunes of California, the ranking Republican on the Intelligence Committee.

He added that this second transcript would probably be released on Tuesday.

FILE - Fiona Hill, a former official of the National Security Council specializing in the former Soviet Union and Russian and European affairs, is pictured at a White House meeting, April 2, 2019, in Washington.

Jordan is reported to have more experience running investigations on the Oversight Committee than Nunes and decisively defends the president.

Hill described Bolton as being angry about the administration's political maneuvers, and she told of his efforts to distance himself from them.

On Thursday, House investigators released the transcript of the deposition of Kent.

Jordan has fiercely defended Trump from his critics, especially the Democrats in charge of the impeachment probe, which he has called a "ridiculous charade".

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